PARIS, Oct 6: French oil group Total SA said on Monday it had not received any indications from the US about a decision on sanctions related to the group's recent $2 billion contract with Iran.

The Washington Post at the weekend reported that the US had decided not to impose sanctions under the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act (ILSA) which aims to block investments in these two countries.

A spokesman for the state department said on Saturday that no decision had yet been taken.

``If it were true it would be good news,'' said a Total spokesman. ``But we do not have any indication of such a decision,'' he added.

In an interview with financial daily La Tribune, published on Monday but conducted last week, Total chairman Thierry Desmarest, said he had been aware of the political risk of signing a deal with Iran and had obtained assurances from the French government and the European Commission.

``The character of our oil projects is that they carry a cocktail of risks. Sometimes the dominant risk is geological or technical. Sometimes it is the political risk,'' Desmarest said.

He said the effect of any US sanctions would be limited for the company.``We have very limited US interest which explains perhaps why we have more liberty of action than some of our big colleagues,'' he said.Desmarest said that US oil groups were ``exasperated'' by the sanctions which ``penalised '' them in their actions. ``Some US companies, Mobil in particular, have launched a campaign against the excessive and counter-productive nature of these embargoes,'' he said.

Desmarest said that his company would have a record profit in 1997, more than the previous record 5.8 billion francs ($981.1 million) in 1991.

``And we should also reach a record profit for the full year, with the last dating back to 1991 with a net profit of 5.8 billion francs,'' he said.

Total made a net profit 5.64 billion in 1996 and the consensus estimate for 1997 is some seven billion francs, according to Reuters Securities 3000 data.Desmarest said that the bourse value of the company had increased. ``We represented 1/12th of the value of Shell at the start of the decade and we currently stand at 1/7th,'' he said.

``Total has changed in size, mainly through exploration and production. Our production is on average 790,000 barrels per day in oil equivalent against 550,000 at the start of the decade,'' he added.

``We have a goal of 1,250,000 barrels per day in 2005 and we have all the chances of hitting that goal because we have already identified 90 per cent of this future production,'' Desmarest said.

``A few years ago, the size of Total was comparable to the US independent oil companies - at the moment we rank number eight in the world and we hope to rise further,'' he said.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.